Vocabulary Workshop Level G Unit 2

Accost

(v.) to approach and speak to first; to confront in a challenging or aggressive way

Animadversion

(n.) a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

Avid

(adj.) desirous of something to the point of greed; intensely eager

Brackish

(adj.) having a salty tast and unpleasant to drink

Celerity

(n.) swiftness, rapidity of motion or action

Devious

(adj.) straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhanded way

Gambit

(n.) in chess, an opening move that involves risk or sacrifice of a minor piece in order to gain a later advantage; any opening move of this type

Halcyon

(n.) a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher; (adj.) of or relating to the halcyon; calm, peaceful; happy, golden; prosperous, affluent

Histrionic

(adj.) pertaining to actors and their techniques, theatrical, artificial; melodramatic

Incendiary

(adj.) deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to stir up strife or rebellion; (n.) one who deliberately sets fires, arsonist; one who causes strife

Maelstrom

(n.) a whirlpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a whirlpool in violence and destruction

Myopic

(adj.) nearsighted, lacking a broad, realistic view of a situation, lacking foresight or discernment

Overt

(adj.) open, not hidden, expressed or revealed in a way that is easily recognized

Pejorative

(adj.) tending to make worse; expressing disapproval or disparagement, derogatory, deprecatory, belittling

Propriety

(n.) state of being proper, appropriateness; (pl.) standards of what is proper or socially acceptable

Sacrilege

(n.) improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred

Summarily

(adv.) without delay or formality; briefly, concisely

Suppliant

(adj.) asking humbly and earnestly; (n.) one who makes a request humbly and earnestly, a petitioner, suitor

Talisman

(n.) an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical powers, an amulet, fetish

Undulate

(v.) to move in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike appearance or form